1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of electrical connectors. More particularly, an embodiment of the present invention relates to an electrical connector having positioning mechanism for electrically connecting an integrated circuit package with a circuit substrate.
2. General Background
An integrated circuit package having a number of conductive pads arranged thereon in land grid array fashion is known as an LGA package. Electrical connectors for forming electrical connection between an LGA package and a circuit substrate are known as LGA connectors. Normally, an LGA connector includes a dielectric housing and a number of conductive terminals embedded within the dielectric housing. The conductive terminals each has a spring arm protruding out of the dielectric housing and deformable in both horizontal and vertical direction.
In use, the LGA package seated on the dielectric housing urges the spring arms of the conductive terminals to deflect downwardly and horizontally to resiliently and electrically mate with the corresponding conductive pads on the LGA package, which may induce frictional force between the conductive terminals and the LGA package and possibly conduce to horizontal displacement of the dielectric housing with respect to the circuit substrate.
In order to prevent the dielectric housing from being displaced with respect to the circuit substrate, certain LGA connectors are provided with a number of positioning columns integrally formed with the dielectric housing thereof. The materials set forth in connection with the present patent application describe LGA connectors-see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,146,152, 6,164,978, 6,179,624, 6,186,797, and 6,203,331, which are all hereby incorporated by references.
However, to securely position the LGA connector on the circuit substrate, the positioning columns integrally formed with the dielectric housing also need to bear a horizontal shearing force exerted by the circuit substrate to balance the frictional force between the LGA package and the conductive terminals, which may potentially lead to the positioning columns to break off from the dielectric housing and adversely affect the performance of the electrical interconnection between the LGA package and the circuit substrate.
Therefore, there is a heretofore unaddressed need in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.